"The work of priestly formation these days must involve a strong catechetical component since so many of our people have been deficiently formed. The resources you provide are allowing the Church to do a better job in preparing Catholics to know and defend their faith more effectively."

Have you ever tried to persuade someone that your belief was true, and that person responded, “Well, there is no truth,” or “It might be true for you, but not for me”? What was your response? I'll bet it was frustrating.

This way of thinking, called relativism, is an impediment to any sort of rational dialogue. How can one argue for the truth of a belief if truth is not real? It’s impossible.

So, in order to engage in any discussion about truth, the obstacle of relativism must...

In the aftermath of the terror attacks in San Bernardino there has been a great deal of media chatter about how the two killers became “radicalized.” How, that is, they went from presumably normal, peaceful Muslims to the type of Muslims who would assemble an arsenal of guns and explosives and use it to slaughter innocent people in Allah’s name. What malign influence caused that transformation?

It’s interesting how we’re using “radical” in this context—to mean extreme, not-mainstream...

The other day, a childhood friend contacted me through Facebook. She had been raised Catholic but now does not believe in God. She knows that I am a convert to Catholicism who writes on religious subjects and wanted to know what drew me to Catholicism and how I could remain Catholic. She wasn't arguing against belief in God; she was simply curious how I could affiliate with a religion that, for many people, does not seem to value women and that many are leaving.

I have multiple friends whose marriages have been ruined because of sexual addiction.

While heartbreaking for them, their spouses, and their children, it is no surprise that lust is wreaking such havoc on marriages and families. The number of men who admit to regularly lusting after women via pornography is staggeringly high, and it is likely that the actual numbers are even higher.

A friend, a late vocation, left town for a distant seminary. Wanting to travel light, he donated a box of old books to the Catholic Answers library. Among them were six volumes comprising The Book of Catholic Authors. The first bears a copyright date of 1942; the sixth, undated, seems to have been published around 1961. The editor of the series was Walter Romig, who produced a book I have in my home library, The Catholic Bookman.

"I should not believe the Gospel except on the authority of the Catholic Church."

~ Augustine of Hippo, convert, bishop, theologian, Father and Doctor of the Church, Saint; endorsing the position that the promulgation of Scripture, the preservation of its integrity and identity, and the explanation of its meaning flows from the authority of the Catholic Church.